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Ga. gubernatorial hopeful's new ad puts gender in the spotlight

By Felicia Sonmez

A female candidate for governor in Georgia is up with her first TV ad of the Republican primary, a 30-second spot that highlights her position as the lone woman in the four-way race.

"Three with iffy ethics. One who wears lipstick. Three who look after themselves. One who looks after you," says the narrator of former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel's (R) new ad, which contrasts her against her three male opponents in the July 20 primary.

Handel is competing against state Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine, former Rep. Nathan Deal and former state Senate Majority Leader Eric Johnson for the GOP nod. A late June SurveyUSA poll showed Oxendine leading the field with 34 percent, while Deal and Handel are tied at 17-18 percent for a spot in the Aug. 10 runoff. (A poll released Friday afternoon shows Handel at 23 percent and Deal and Johnson at 12 percent.)

The ad hits on Handel's theme of "ethical leadership" while highlighting her biography: it notes that she left an abusive home at 17 and "worked herself all the way to the White House," a reference to her tenure as deputy chief of staff to former Vice President Dan Quayle's wife, Marilyn (who is also the narrator of the ad). The ad also takes a shot at the frontrunner, Oxendine. "Karen's tougher than an ox, but with a heart that comes from a life beating the odds," the narrator says over an on-screen image of an ox wearing lipstick.

The spot starts airing Monday and will run for at least a week in the Atlanta media market, which encompasses about 60 percent of the Republican primary vote, according to Handel's campaign. It was produced by consultant Fred Davis, the media whiz behind such ads as Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) "Celeb" ad in 2008, former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina's (R) "demon sheep" ad and the 1998 "King Roy" Web video portraying then-Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes (D) as a giant rat. (Worth noting: Barnes is running for his old office this year, and Oxendine's camp has gone up with its own Web ad riffing on Davis' "King Roy" theme.)

In an interview with The Fix Friday, Davis explained that the ad "had to really stand out" since it would be Handel's first in the race, and that the best way to do that would be to highlight the candidate's differences with her rivals, in terms of both gender and ethics.

"I also wanted, somehow, to put lipstick on an ox," Davis added, noting that the lipstick theme was not a reference to Sarah Palin's now-famous remark in 2008 that lipstick was "the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull."

Davis said that while some similarities can be drawn between Handel's race and that of South Carolina gubernatorial nominee Nikki Haley (R) (who also faced three male candidates in her primary bid and used her TVads to draw sharp contrasts with her opponents), ultimately Handel differs from both Haley and Palin in that she has typically steered away from drawing attention to her gender in the past.

"Sometimes, I'm not sure if Karen even remembers she's a female," Davis said. "She sees herself as just as strong and tough as any one of the guys." The ad, Davis noted, was not meant as an attempt to reach out to women specifically, but rather as an attempt to draw contrasts.

Handel spokesman Dan McLagan also downplayed the gender aspect of the ad, noting that while many have begun calling 2010 the "year of the woman," "we think of it more as the year of the outsider."

"Karen's campaign from the beginning has been one of the outsider who can challenge the status quo and somebody who can clean up the mess under the Gold Dome at the state capitol," McLagan added.

Deal's campaign, meanwhile, contended that the idea of Handel as an outsider is laughable.

"I don't see how somebody who's been in elected office for the last 10 years can make that case," Deal spokesperson Brian Robinson said. Rather than an outsider, Robinson added, Handel is "a quitter" who left college as well as her positions as Fulton County Commissioner and secretary of state.

"Voters need to ask themselves, what is Karen Handel going to quit to run for next time?" Robinson said. (McLagan responded that Deal quit Congress "in order to prevent the publication of a report accusing him of ethical misdeeds.")

In contrast to Handel's ad, Deal's first TV spot, which went up this week, focuses on illegal immigration and Deal's conservative record. "I wrote the law to stop illegal aliens from receiving taxpayer-funded health care, cut billions in wasteful spending and voted against Obamacare," Deal says in the ad.

Robinson argued that while Deal's ad is focused on the issues, Handel "has been running a Seinfeld campaign -- it's a campaign about nothing."

Oxendine manager Stephen Puetz said that it's "not surprising" that Handel "would use her first ad to launch a negative attack, especially when she has to run from her liberal record." (Handel's spokesperson called such criticism "a bit surprising" and noted that Oxendine sought to become a Democratic delegate for Al Gore in 1988.)

Fundraising reports released this week show that Handel has made up ground in the money race, but still lags far behind Oxendine, who has $1.8 million in the bank compared to Deal's $670,000, Handel's $640,000 and Johnson's $613,000.

Give up, 12Bar, zouk is so preoccupied with his hatred of a few posters on this blog and of Obama that he can't even finish a sentence without invoking a string of stupid caricatures.

Yeah it's possible for certain people with lots of free time (meaning jobs that don't leave them beat at the end of the day and lives relatively free of care like children and illnesses) to make more money on investments that on social security. For a lot of people, though, and probably for most people, the investments would dribble away, to say nothing of the fact that they would be in direct competition with investors who do this crap all day every day. Privatizing SS is a way to fleece people.

And, this is the part that the pioneer spirit types don't like to hear, it's unreasonable to expect people to make sound decisions all the time and keep it up year after year. The best thing about the SS system (donning asbestos gear) is that it's an involuntary tax. You don't pay only when you're feeeling responsible, you pay even in the worst of your times, paycheck in and paycheck out, and there's no psyching oneself up to think for the future.

It appeals to the conceit of some conservatives that they're all self-reliant an' stuff and gives them an excuse to deride others who slip and fail and who don't always act responsibly as they might, but it's good public policy to compete people to save for the future even if it doesn't feed conservative conceit.

1. Ceflynline and Fairlinton: Thanks for your thoughtfulness and patience. I believe that the comments section will get better sooner rather than later so hopefully it will be rewarded.

2. 37th/Heatwave has been banned AGAIN. Not sure what else I can do other than keep banning him. And he will continue to return under other names.

3. ChrisFox/Noa: The comparison between you and 37th is based on your desire to return repeatedly under other names despite being banned. I continue to be baffled as to why you spend so much time getting back to a blog you disdain so much but that's another conversation.

4. To everyone else: Commenting on blogs remains very much a work in progress. The Post's goal is to allow as free a discussion as possible without permitting personal attacks and other online savagery. It seems a pretty easy goal to meet. Treat people online like you would offline.

I knew Karen Handel will be a major player in this governor's race. Handel is apparently the choosen successor for Gov. Perdue. She isn't exactly an outsider, but noone in this race is. These are all old pros. Deal may be the most ethically challenged of the 3. I think the run-off will likely be Oxendine vs. Handel. That will be a tough race, but which ever prevails will be the front runner in the GE.

noacolor I personally remember the day the Barton story broke and there was absolutely
no thread here about it. I posted at least
5 nasty comments directed to CC about ignoring the story and finally 48 hours later they relented under a barage of attacks against The Fix and actually published a mild Barton rebuke. We are constanly lectured about how this site is a leftist conspiracy when in reality its editors, moderators(what a joke),
and the majority of posts have become nothing more than a shill for the GOP. G++ Help them if they would just occasionally run a story about 'A' GOP candidate struglling, Rand Paul in a bright red state is barely a few point up as is Rick Perry in another bright red state and Sharon Angel and all we hear about are D problems, as though the GOP has none. The Ryan proposal is the equivalent of a D proposing proposing 100% tax rate, could you image the screeching you would hear and the glaring thread CC would publish here, but the Ryan insane proposal gets absolutely zero coverage. CC thinks the GOP takeover of Congress is a slam dunk, far from it, but you wouldn't know that visiting The Fix.

L1 and noa have raised important questions about the points this blog, which is not someone's personal Facebook, but is a platform sponsored by our national political paper of reocord.

At some point folks in PostWorld will take note of the blog's dysfunctionality, see negative reaction to Fix Hillary video. If Post blogger Dave Weigel can get canned/separated by the Post for personal snarky emails about Drudge, some scrutiny by Post management of this blog, with its relentless anti-BHO bent (two positive mentions of the President in two years), seems warranted.

Why leichtman could it possibly be any less obvious? This blog isn't about reporting, it's not about what's important, the function of this blog is to blow sunshine up the great Republican ạss.

Remember the day HCR passed? Was the story here about HCR? No, it was a picture of some grinning jerk and the story was "Dan Coats, the Anti-Obama." When Cillizza finally got around to mentioning HCR it was as though through clenched teeth, with not a word about how bitterly his precious fụcking Republican Party fought it and lost.

When Rep. Barton was the lead story in every paper in the country, what was the lead story here? Tim Pawlenty, a Republican governor nobody cares about, endorses a Republican governor nobody ever heard of.

Cillizza is so loyal to his fụcking Republican Party he has his head up his ạss. Just look at the brainless trolling his gives a pass to because it's anti-Obama trolling.

No point trying to bring him around, nor to point out what a lousy fụcking job he's doing, just record all these lousy priorities and report to the Post and urge his replacement with someone who reports what's important instead of acting like a slavishly servile stenographer for the GOP.

Karen Handel may be a decent enough sort but why is an ad campaign for a trailing Republican gubernatorial candidate more important than anything else that should appear here

Why is it 12Bar that the Fix does not write a thread on these kinds of whacko GOP proposals
like Ryan's proposal to end the current Medicare system and I have to find the story
on the front page of the LA Times? 37th can screech and use two year like name calling techniques all he wants, but yet the reality is that the Ryan proposal is still out there along with Boehner's proposal to raise the SS age to 70, and the GOP certainly doesn't want voters to know of these proposals until AFTER the election.
Why is it that The Fix is complicit in covering up these proposals and would rather divert us with garbage threads about a fifth tier GOP primary.
Lets see discussing GOP proposals about Medicare and SS or Karen Handel's lame tv
commercial? Which story has more relevance CC
for November's election? Why should those 2 GOP proposals not be election issues since neither Boehner nor Ryan have distanced themselves from either of these actual policy proposals?

Yet Republican leaders are wary of endorsing it, and for understandable reasons. The road map is sweeping and politically risky. It would overhaul popular programs like Medicare, relying on individuals to make decisions now made by government.

In an exchange during the health care debate, Representative Louise Slaughter (D–NY) told Ryan that his “plan is to phase out Medicare.” Slaughter had it totally backwards—Medicare, and the other entitlements, are on the road to collapse without reform. The federal government simply cannot fulfill its unfunded promises without going bankrupt and causing an economic meltdown.

The Roadmap offers a solution to this and the other realities of out-of-control government spending. Ferguson says of the Roadmap, “It seems to me actually our best hope.”

Bloomberg Businessweek points out that “at least one congressman is doing just that—and learning how lonely it can be crusading for real change.” That congressman is Paul Ryan (R–WI), who released the second version of his Roadmap for America earlier this year, which includes health care reform, entitlement reform, and tax reform.

How does the Roadmap achieve all this? Medicare and Medicaid are transformed into voucher programs, giving beneficiaries the ability to choose their own health insurance and allowing market forces to lower costs.

read that story about Paul Ryan s proposal to end and privatize Medicare a few minutes ago on LA Times web site Boehner is squirming about Ryan s proposal but voters need to know about this GOP proposal along with their proposal to raise the SS age to 70 before Nov.

The dirty little secret is out tonight. The GOP and Paul Ryan are proposing they want to repeal Medicare. Many of us have always suspecteed that was the goal of the GOP but never thought they would have the balls to admit it. Seniors beware. The GOP if they take over the House intend to put Repeal of Medicare at the top of their agenda. You think I am making this up, just google Paul Ryan legislative plan.
Why are we not discussing GOP plans to repeal Medicare rather than some lame R candidate who absolutely no one here cares one bit about.

The dirty little secret is out tonight. The. GOP and Paul Ryan are proposing they want to repeal Medicare. Many of us have always presumed that was the goal of the GOP but never thought they would have the balls to admit that. Seniors beware. The GOP if they take over the House intend to put Repeal of Medicare at the top of their agenda. You think I am making this up, just google Paul Ryan legislative plan.
Why are we not discussing GOP plans to repeal Medicare rather than some lame R gub

The dirty little secret is out tonight. The. GOP and Paul Ryan are proposing they want to repeal Medicare. Many of us have always presumed that was the goal of the GOP but never thought they would have the balls to admit that. Seniors beware. The GOP if they take over the House intend to put Repeal of Medicare at the top of their agenda. You think I am making this up, just google Paul Ryan legislative plan.
Why are we not discussing GOP plans to repeal Medicare rather than some lame R gub

The problem with this blog is not enough people are talking about how horrible Obama is.

The leftists just want to distract the country away from the truth that Obama has failed to deliver on his promises.

The sooner the leftists accept that Obama is a failed President, the sooner the nation can get back to healing - and we can build a wonderful American which includes everyone, not just the far-left and their wacky ideas.

And we can balance the budget - and not put the future of this nation at risk.

Do you think that is Obama's real plan - to bankrupt the white population of the country - just so the blacks can get even ? Sure seems like it.

While you are still here, 37, a question: do you know whether Gregory Charles Royal has asked Phalin if she has changed her "policy" since they last met. Many are rooting for Royal and Phalin. I know you are one of them. Tell the truth.

Moving to the positive. One thing we all CAN agree on: the need to insist Fix enforce his "ban" on robotroll 37/Flowers (as he had promised regardless of how many goofy names 37 returned under) and end America's national nightmare. :)
________________

Just time to thank 12BB for the report on the provenance of the rioters. I did not know we had this cadre of peripatetic trouble makers. Sounds like Hells Angels in 60s CA and the 60s TX Bandidos, now a worldwide crime syndicate. The Bandidos hardly ever get caught, and always have loot in mind. But these people could be HA/B wannabes.

The Oakland Police Department - and the city officials and community leaders who laid a foundation for a peaceful demonstration - deserve credit for keeping cool heads when history shows such protests can quickly get out of control.

"The organizers of the event did exactly what they said they were going to do," said Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts. "They held a peaceful protest, but you could see anarchists among the crowd early on," he said.

Among the 78 people arrested, some carried backpacks with Molotov cocktails, sawed-off baseball bats and bottles filled with urine and feces, the chief said. Oakland police officers arrested one masked demonstrator seen filling a plastic gasoline container at a downtown station, he added.

Oakland police confirmed that all but 19 of the 78 people arrested for parole violations, arson, property damage or failure to disperse came from outside Oakland. In fact, 19 live outside the Bay Area and 12 were from other states.

Oakland Councilmember Larry Reid was at the rally, standing near a couple of young men who said they had driven all day from Oregon to be there. They were wearing red and blue bandannas and were weighed down by heavy backpacks, clues that police used to identify members of anarchist groups that sparked the vandalism, Reid said.

From the Dec. 16, 1773, Boston Tea Party protest that helped found our nation to the 1960s civil rights marches in the South, history has shown that it doesn't take much for rallies to escalate into trouble, whether it's the protesters or the police who spark the violence.

Paul Cobb, publisher of the Oakland Post newspaper, was a student when he joined King on the Selma-to-Montgomery march in Alabama in March 1965. He is amazed by what now goes on at demonstrations in Oakland, and how a few outsiders can hijack a cause for their own enjoyment. They care nothing about Grant, they just want to get on TV so their friends can see them smashing things up, he said.

Watching this Mehserle trial play out and the verdict has had a profound impact on the regular citizens in the local area.

Speaking for myself, I found myself starting out with an attitude of "of course, Mehserle didn't MEAN to shoot the guy" to gradually change my opinion to one of holding Mehserle more accountable. I'm still not sure he meant to shoot him, but there was no reason IMO that Mehserle had to taser the guy, and out of that reckless decision the rest of the event occurred.

It's disturbing to hear talk show callers (and I'm talking the white callers) saying "everyone knows the police are dangerous" and "you need to be REAL careful when they pick you up". That's beginning to sound like what Germans would have said about the Gestapo. As Americans, we shouldn't have to fear our police because they have weapons and hair trigger tempers.

12BB - Leichtman and I are referring to TX, where sov immunity covers most gov actions. We are both of the impression, from afar, that CA has greatly limited sov immunity.

BWJ - you are under no obligation to read anything, of course. Perhaps I do need a large screen and HD. But if the video shows only an admitted shooting it adds nothing, and frankly I did not see the actual shot in that video. I saw the blurred face of the shooter, who might have looked puzzled through the blur, as he holstered his weapon. That was at about 1:20-1:23, I think. The prosecutor's video was better - enhanced, with sound, and it made me wonder why any weapon was drawn, at all. I'm not trying to pick a fight with you. If I were a prosecutor in a police brutality case I would look for and hope for keeping a juror like you. There are not enough of you.

I just listened to a talk show with a former prosecutor, Jim Hammer, being interviewed. This prosecutor is HOPING that the judge sentences Mehserle to some prison time. He thinks about 2 years for the manslaughter plus maybe 4 years for the gun enhancement.

That is assuming the gun enhancement doesn't get stayed by the judge.

There is SOME possibility that Mehserle gets probation and walks out a free man.

This prosecutor did some research for the show and said that in the last fifteen years, there have been only six cases where police officers were charged with murder. One officer plead to manslaughter. The other five were acquited.

Mehserle is making history as only police being convicted of something.

Really, I don't think mia is arguing with you. You should know there are lots of different videos of the event. I don't know which of the many were introduced at trial, except the report (made many times) of the video showing Mehserle looking shocked. We heard about that video, although I have never seen it.

The consensus of the black community seems to be it was murder plain and simple. Whites seem to be willing to assume Mehserle is just some kind of screw up who accidentally shot Grant. Of course, I'm generalizing. But that's been my impression after listening to this story here for months and months. It's everywhere on the media.

The differences in attitude down racial lines makes perfect sense when you take into account the differences in police treatment of the races. Right?

More than half the posts here and nearly all the column inches are from the same poster, a hebephrenic speed junkie who posts nonstop for over 24 hours at a stretch, a bleating hysteric whom nobody reads or responds to. And this has gone on for months and months while the "gracious host" wrings handkerchiefs and sheds crocodile tears and says there's nothing he can do. That it a complete crock of sh*t.

Flowers/37ths posts are unintelligible and repetitive, loaded with racist swinishness, and are no contribution to discussion here, seeking only to jam discussion like the Soviets used to do with radio stations from outside Russia.

If you cretins at the Post can't do anything to enable discussion in these comments, if you are literally helpless in the face of a deteriorated drug addict with no job and nothing but time, then just shut down the comments altogether and give them a clean death. This is disgusting, and there is not another blog connected with any major paper, not even this one, that lets this kind of junk go on.

The civil case in the Mehserle case would be against BART, wouldn't it? Would the transit entity also be protected by sov immunity?

I heard that John Burris filed a $25m civil case on behalf of the family.

On a different case entirely, there was an 11 year old girl kidnapped and held captive for 18 years before she was found on a tip by a citizen who saw the tents in the perp's backyard where the girl and her 2 children, fathered by the perp, were living.

The perp was a registered sex offender. The state just settled for $20 million on that case.

However it happened that no blacks got on the jury, I never heard a factual account.

The buzz around Oakland is extremely negative about no blacks on the jury. There is an interesting psychological tell on the part of the whole Bay Area police. There was EXTENSIVE planning in advance of the verdict to evacuate businesses and government offices on a 4 hour notice. Everyone seemed to know that if there were no blacks on the jury, the jury would probably come down on acquital or the lightest conviction.

This is how much people believed it: the 4 hour notice didn't happen. In fact, had it not been for some sharp-eyed reporter, there wouldn't have been any notice. A reporter noticed the jury questioned about the gun enhancement, and he knew this meant they had a verdict.

Anyway, some mass emails went out, and the freeways and feeder roads to the freeways were totally gridlocked, all over the Bay Area. I heard that people were actually running toward their cars. BART shut down their downtown Oakland stations which added to the general panic.

Leichtman, I would assume any such case in TX would be brought in Fed Ct under Sec. 1983 - It is the only avenue around sov immunity - although a state court can entertain a 1983 case, why chance it, as you said.

Brigade, thanks for the update on the jury make-up. 12BB, if there were few blacks on the panel, the defense could have struck them peremptorily, without cause. While prosecutors are forbidden to strike peremptorily on the basis of race, defendants face no such constitutional dilemma, as they are not taking state action.

The day I read your posts and treat you as an intellectual equal, I might as well hang up my own intellect. I would have to be nuts to actually converse with you on your points. I know you are unbalanced, obsessed, speeded-up and racist deep in your bones.

I just poke at you and make fun of you, because you are a court jester. When you find someone who will actually converse with you on your points, you better stick with that person because they are few and far between.

I assume the defense in this case tried to show a probable necessity for tasing. Did that happen? What was the nature of the testimony? Anyone know?

Posted by: mark_in_austin | July 11, 2010 11:09 AM
-------------------------------------
I believe the defense brought in at least one expert who did opine that tasering was appropriate. I don't know what the prosecution did to refute that, if anything.

To a layman (me), it's pretty hard to justify to one's self that tasering a guy surrounded by police with his hands behind his back.

I just listened to a talk show with a former prosecutor, Jim Hammer, being interviewed. This prosecutor is HOPING that the judge sentences Mehserle to some prison time. He thinks about 2 years for the manslaughter plus maybe 4 years for the gun enhancement.

That is assuming the gun enhancement doesn't get stayed by the judge.

There is SOME possibility that Mehserle gets probation and walks out a free man.

This prosecutor did some research for the show and said that in the last fifteen years, there have been only six cases where police officers were charged with murder. One officer plead to manslaughter. The other five were acquited.

Mehserle is making history as only police being convicted of something.

I have heard on the radio numerous times that at trial there was a video shown that had Mehserle being shocked after shooting Oscar Grant. I don't have TV so I didn't see it, myself, nor can I find it on youtube. But all my friends say the same thing, so I'm not crazy about that.

The jury had no blacks on it, which is unbelievable since it was downtown LA. Maybe a clue might be voir dire. If you ask potential jurors if he/she had ever had trouble with the police, and disqualified every one of those people, that would certainly one way to get rid of all blacks. I don't know if that happened, but it could have worked that way.

The jury only deliberated about six hours, and had to start over twice because of two alternates. That doesn't indicate that much thought went into this jury. This sounds like a "compromise" verdict to me, having been on a jury myself and felt the tremendous pressure from other jurors to "just get it over with because everyone knows [fill in the blank]".

the civil case should be settled if the
exemplary damages are kept to a minimum
if here in Texas. We know that our state
Supreme Ct. is very anti Plaintiff and would likely throw out most verdicts against municipalities under the doctrine of sovereign immunity or if damages are deemed excessive and why it would likely need to be filed in Federal Ct. as a civil rights violation
under 1983 rather than in State District Ct is how I see it mark. but this case is in Ca who's state supreme ct is more even handed, so that scenario changes. Your example mark is filing the claim in Travis Cty District Ct. who's verdicts are certainly reviewed by our state supreme ct and what that entails. Texas P lawyers would certainly not chance a Travis Cty verdict even in this egregious situation imho.

Regarding the BART incident, I'm not sure if I said anything to indicate that this was an "all white" jury. If so, I apologize. I read that there were "no blacks" on the jury, which I felt was the relevant point. There may very well have been some Asians or Hispanics on the jury.

Considering the racial make-up in the cities of Oakland and Los Angeles, it just makes good sense when there's a black/white case like this to have a representative number of blacks on the jury. I'm sure if three or four African-Americans had listened to all the evidence and voted for involuntary manslaughter, then this would go a long way toward diffusing the incident. I'm not suggesting this is how juries are picked, but I do wonder how a large city with a significant black population manages to not have a single black on the jury in this sort of case.

"Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas and family are "outraged" after his nephew was allegedly punched, pulled and tased at a New Orleans hospital, after a possible suicide attempt. The taser put him into a "massive epileptic seizure."

I have just read this, and i am trying to fathom how any hospital could taser someone who is suicidal.

As long as we're talking race here (and, yes, I realize that someone around here is talking about race 24/37), there was a disturbing incident in the DC area. A young man was sitting outside a library and was considered suspicious. He's black. He also has autism. What may have been a case of SWB (sitting while black) was complicated by his autism. That led to a confrontation resulting in an injured officer and a young man in jail.

BWJ, I understand that DOJ is reviewing this case as a potential civil rights case. The USA could make a case on excessive force without proving specific murderous intent, I think. I did not think your video was persuasive, and I think it was not placed in evidence for that reason. I DO think it would be persuasive, as would be the video that was placed in evidence, in a civil rights case - no weapon should have been drawn on the victim, as far as one can tell from the videos. That should be enough to obtain a guilty plea, I think, unless there are still other videos justifying drawn weapons.

I assume the defense in this case tried to show a probable necessity for tasing. Did that happen? What was the nature of the testimony? Anyone know?

I am guessing the civil case, if not settled early, will produce a substantial plaintiff's verdict. Why?

The burden of proof is lower.

The fate of the individual cop will not be the focus, the family's loss will be.

Negligence alone, without intent, will work in favor of the plaintiff, instead of the defendant.

The possibility that using a taser in that situation in violation of police policy leads to an enhanced award for reckless and wanton negligence exists, so that "I meant to use my taser" may actually work for the family of the decedent and against the City.

Were this my civil case to defend as attorney for the City of Austin I would work feverishly to settle, and not go to trial. Leichtman?

This article linked below embeds a better video of the BART incident. If, after viewing this, someone wants to argue the shooter thought he was firing his taser, not his gun, or that he suffered from a panic attack, God bless him.

BWJ - Depending on the evidence [was there a film shown to the jury that evidences shock or surprise by the transit cop, as 12BB suggested?] that is exactly what I am saying would likely occur in TX. Or would have 42 years ago.

On the other hand, there is little question that a civilian shooting another civilian in the back while the victim was under restraint would have resulted in a murder conviction, if recorded, and viewed by the jury.

I am not in a position to argue that race was not a factor but I am in a position to argue that "blue" probably was. It always has been, in TX.

I do not know what you are wanting from me. I do not know the composition of the jury. I do not know the videos they saw. I do not know the effectiveness of the testimony of witnesses or of the attorneys. I watched a video that the PROSECUTION put into evidence that was "enhanced" by the prosecution and I could not tell what happened. Did you see a video that WAS INTRODUCED INTO EVIDENCE? Do you want me to watch it? What?

Counted the us of the word blacks at least 25 times by 37th this am;what should we dare call that?
Ebonic looting??????
Why is this tolerated by the WP?
Can t imagine any other legitimate blog sue allowing that Why not just come out and use the n word 37th

It is hard to admit that 37/Flowers got the BART case right (except for the unhinged junk about the "rioting") and that he made the critical point better than I did, but he did. This guy was pinned on the ground face down by the other officers, a danger to no one, and the defendant officer calmly shot this helpless guy in the back and then calmly re-holstered. If this isn't a slam dunk, then literally NO case is.

M-I-A: Assume the exact same facts as in the BART case except the victim is a white middle class suburban adult male.

Are you seriously telling me, with that one fact change, you believe that, in Texas, the officer would have been acquitted of the more serious charges, as the BART officer was?

Until I saw the video the other day, I really didn't appreciate the controversy over the shooting. Now I do. Any explanation of the verdict based on speculation about jury deference to the police in light of what our "lying eyes" saw on the video is disturbing and proves we have a LONG way to go. Awful stuff.

My question is - was the officer even right to tase the guy - if that is what he is saying he intended to do.

There are 4 or 5 officers there - and they seemed to have the guy under control - so why was he being tased ?

I don't even know - but it is difficult to see something delevop in a train station - what led to all of this ?

In any event, the behavior of the blacks in Oakland is not justified.

The attitude of the leftist is - the blacks are allowed to go protest and be violent-

But the Tea Party does not have that right to protest - because it MUST be racism behind what they are saying - not that they don't like what is going on.

There are two different standards here.

Clearly, the leftists in this country are not mature enough to have a black President.

If the leftists were mature enough to have a black President, we wouldn't be hearing all these charges of "hidden racism" - and it's not that, it's really racism. All that complete garbage we are hearing from the left.

Somehow the left believes they have a monopoly on protest - they are allowed to protest Bush - but somehow all protest against Obama is wrong.

Sorry - THE LEFT SOMEHOW BELIEVES THAT ALL PROTESTS AGAINST OBAMA SHOULD BE STOPPED BECAUSE HE IS BLACK.

It doesn't work that way. If we really are post-racial, it shouldn't matter what color Obama is.

But it always seems to be the left which is bringing up the racism - the race card.

The leftists want to throw racism in someone's face.

But to challenge a leftist - and really talk about whether these charges of racism are appropriate - or even productive - the leftists go nuts.

The leftists don't want to hear that these charges are not right in a post-racial world.

This is NOT WHAT POST RACIAL IS SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT.

OBAMA KILLED THE POST-RACIAL WORLD - it is not happening - and it won't happen for a long time now.

I and Leichtman, are both seriously suggesting that in TX it is unlikely that police brutality toward anyone will be the basis of a successful criminal prosecution against a cop, while we both suggest that civil suits can succeed on behalf of the civilian.

I was serious in suggesting that the era of videos offers some opening to actually prosecuting police brutality, but deference to blue makes a max conviction unlikely.

I did not, and do not, suggest that race played no part in the verdict in the Oakland case. I cannot know that. I was surprised that a Los Angeles County jury was described as "all white" - I would think that would be a statistical improbability. I would have to know more and I am sure 12BB will oblige with more factual detail over the weekend, but I will not know enough to opine about anything other than what I have actually experienced: juries that will accept a policeman's testimony, no matter how inconsistent internally, no matter how improbable.

One comment heard very often on the talk shows is that "everyone knows" that when you get picked up by the police, you need to be "very careful" because they have guns. And the callers then wind around to how the victim apparently wasn't careful enough, because he got shot. The view that the police are dangerous to the life of someone they have in custody is a scary thought to me. When I was little, my mom always said, "if you're in trouble, find a policeman. He'll help you". Apparently not any more.

Secondly, Mehserle and the other BART cops got way too excited and overstimulated. Strangely, that seemed to work in their favor in the eyes of some. It explained why a BART cop would shoot someone in the back in front of numerous and obvious video. In fact, the defense was "why would this guy murder someone in front of witnesses".

Back to Mehserle verdict, which EVERYONE here is following closely. As unbelievable as it seems, the opinion of the verdict tends to go down racial lines. If you listen to the talk shows, whites tend to support acquital; blacks tend to support at least 2nd degree murder.

I think the jury did defer to the police, regardless of the numerous video showing the shooting, including one of the victim filming it himself. Had there been less video, or none, I wouldn't be surprised the jury would have acquited.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' epileptic nephew suffered a massive seizure after being beaten and hit with a stun gun during a scuffle at a New Orleans area hospital, his family said.

Derek Thomas, 25, was admitted to West Jefferson Hospital on Thursday after what some news outlets described as a possible suicide attempt. When orderlies asked Thomas to put on a hospital gown, he refused and tried to flee the facility. That's when security guards stepped in, and a scuffle ensued. Details were reported by several news agencies.

One of the guards punched Thomas, pulled out his hair and them shocked him with a Taser, the patient's sister, Kimberly Thomas, wrote in an e-mail to ABC News. Because of the fight, Thomas suffered a serious seizure, she said.

Re Mehserle case, I have heard numerous times there is video showing Mehserle looking shocked. There were numerous video shots of the event, including one taken by the victim himself. If I find the video on youtube I'll post the link.

Mehserle was a BART cop, considered more like PD than security cop. Supposedly he was trained like PD. Seems questionable to me, but that's what the prosecution presented.

The defense said Mehserle got confused about the taser, and obviously the jury believed the defense. Even though the taser is on the opposite side and weighs a lot less than a gun.

Right after the verdict, the defense released a letter from Mehserle to the victim's family apologizing for the shooting. Cynics say this is all done for the benefit of influencing the judge for lower sentence.

I have to agree with Joe in this case. This was pretty egregious. If you're that confused when a man's face down on the ground in front of you, what in the world would you do in a for-real predicament?

Was this guy a trained police officer or some sort of security guard? I thought they called him a transit officer, but I'm not sure just what that means or what sort of training in the use of firearms he'd had. It's a tragic situation.

The BART verdict doesn't reflect deference to the police. This was a videotaped unjustified shooting where the officer's defense was ridiculous from the get-go, i.e., I thought the gun was a taser.

As for the suggestion the jury heard something the press is unaware of and that's what swayed it, it was a closely followed PUBLIC trial and no media account of it has stated or implied any such thing. Regarding speculation about other views showing the officer panicking, all of the views are on the Internet and none show anything other than the officer calmly shooting an unarmed subdued man in the back.

Whatever motivated the jury verdict in the BART case, it certainly wasn't deference to the police since the officer offered no credible explanation/excuse for what he did.

leichtman, your post reminded me that Constable McCain [D], Precinct 3, Travis County, tasered a 72 yr. old white great grandma who would not step forward and sign her traffic citation, and all of that was on video [look up "tasered 72 year old" on google].

That was around the time the cops arrested the Harvard prof. in Cambridge in his own house. It got less coverage, but everyone in the TX case was white.

Internal investigation found "no wrongdoing" by McCain. Travis County maintained granny's civil suit was without merit but they did settle for $40K, saying it would cost more to litigate, which it would have, indeed. Your Houston footballer's mom will [or did] get a decent settlement, I am sure.

I think most of the posters here do not understand the real deference we give to cops - although our experience is here in TX. Maybe it is different elsewhere.

In the BART case, unlike in some cases, we have a videotape, and a fairly clear one at that. The tape shows no panic of any kind on the officer's part either before or after the shooting. In fact, after the shots were fired, the officer calmly holstered his gun. We don't see him jabbering, "What have I done?" or hand waving. Rather, he shot a subdued unarmed man lying face down on the ground and that was that.

No officer in the entire country would mistake a TASER from a real GUN so his "defense" was bogus from the start: They are holstered on entirely different sides of the officer's waist and the weight, look, and feel of the two are VERY different.

"Those in the industry" are not concerned with the massive federal budget deficit - or the massive federal debt.

in reality banks, auto companies, and insurance
companies on the verge of financial collapse 19 months ago would say no. They were thankful the federal govt saved them from collapse although by their massive CEO bonuses you could hardly tell. In March 2009 this administration had to do use every tool in its arsenal including exploding the deficit to save banks, the auto and the insurance industry from certain, complete financial collapse. I am sure that the Herbert Hoover wing of the GOP(Rand Paul, Carly Fiorina and Sharron Angel) would have preferred a 1929 redeux so they could then have said how irresponsible it was of Obama to have let that happen. Apparently the GOP thinks that Obama wanted to have spent hundreds of billions his first weeks in office to rescue the economy from the brink of financial disaster. Perhaps the GOP minions have amnesia and have entirely forgotten AIG, Lehman, GM, Chrysler et al and what happened in Dec 2008. Sane people have not forgotten.

As for convicting cops in Texas of any type of violent crime, that is very very rare, can't remember the last Harris Cty conviction. We had a very similar case in my lilly white neighborhood where a young AA kid had driven his parents Lexus home and the vehicle was incorrectly marked as an auto theft. When the young man reached to get his identification he was mistakenly shot. The officer was recently acquitted of all charges however our community faces massive civil liability b/c the kid that was shot was a local star athlete. G++ bless our police force but they always seem to be acquitted regardless of the testimony; at least here in Texas.

Noa,
I really think you are on shaky ground.
Having read a fair number of your posts over the months, you have engaged in the same sort of personal attacks that you cast on others.
Banning 37th made sense. As did banning you. Both were consistent with the rules of fair play on the blog. You both chose to ignore them.

Chris
Posted by: Chris_Cillizza | June 29, 2010 6:52 PM

We all know who the most disgusting cretin at the Fix is. The first one ever banned.

12BB, I do labor negotiation from the management side, so take my ancient history with criminal law as... ancient history, but here it is.

When I was a prosecutor, as a young lawyer, 42 years ago, in a liberal city full of hippie types in the heart of Texas, I could pretty much count on jurors taking the testimony of a police officer as worth more than the testimony of a civilian. I can tell you that jurors tended to trust cops, without regard to the race of the civilian, and without regard to the race of the cop. Black cop killed white guy, it would result in an internal reprimand at APD just as when white cop killed black guy. Maybe reassignment to a desk job. Maybe dismissal if the cop had an internal rep such that other cops would not work willingly with him.

Today video raises the stakes: cops apparently can be convicted of negligent homicide. "Reasonable doubt" is easier to emotionally extend for a cop in the field - that is my guess. You said one video seemed to show the cop in Oakland looking surprised. That would have been enough for an Austin jury, regardless of the racial overtones. Leichtman would be able to give you a current view, I am sure, but I think the relevant color is "blue".

And it does not much matter what "the public" thinks. Serving on a jury during a trial creates its own reality, which is divorced from what you read in the newspaper or watch on TV, or on line. What we know of this case is different than what that jury knew.

This isnt a Tea Party blog, and where was the Tea Party when taxes where high and the deficit spiraling out of control in the Bush years? Oh thats right there was a WHITE GUY in charge, so no need to form.

"It's time for the GOP to get down to brass tacks. Republicans are positively giddy at the prospect of retaking the House of Representatives, but, to make their dreams a reality, they have to be more than just the Party of No. They have to develop and disseminate an actual agenda. To do that they're teaming up with the party faithful and K Street lobbyists to produce a new platform. It's less providing leadership than being led, but at least it's something.

But if you feel like this is déjà vu all over again, that's because it is. In the years since they lost their majority, and in the months since Obama took office, Republicans have tried time and again to cast themselves as more than a (dis)loyal minority, introducing policy ideas, rebranding efforts, and other gimmicks. All of them have quickly fizzled and been swept into the dustbin, never to be mentioned again.

Whether this latest effort stands the test of time or not is an open question. But with that in mind, here's a highlight reel of failed Republican renaissances."

[Bennett] he worried that the GOP has no clear plan to govern if they take control of the Senate this election year.

“That’s my concern, that at the moment there is not a cohesive Republican strategy of this is what we’re going to do. And certainly among the tea party types there’s clearly no strategy of this is what we’re going to do,” he said.

"Warning that tea party "mischief" may be aiding Democrats this election season, defeated Utah Republican U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett says that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid likely will keep his seat and that the GOP may not win hotly contested Senate races in Colorado or Kentucky either.

In an interview in his home state with The Associated Press, Bennett also suggested that Republicans may not have a clear plan to govern even if they do take control of the Senate this year.

Weighing in on election season, Bennett expressed concern over the fiercely contested GOP primary in Colorado and said that, in Nevada, Reid appears to be a shoo-in to defeat Sharon Angle, a tea party candidate who won the Republican nomination last month.

"With the tea party creating the mischief that it is in Colorado, we may not win that seat. My sources in Nevada say with Sharon Angle there's no way Harry Reid loses in Nevada," he said about the GOP challenger to Democratic Senate majority leader.

In Kentucky's Senate race, he said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has been making strides to help tea party favorite Rand Paul avoid a loss there.

"Rand Paul — that's a seat we could lose in Kentucky, but McConnell seems to be helping stabilize Rand Paul and pulling back from some of his more dangerous statements," he said in the interview Thursday."

Since you are criminal defense, I'll pose this to you. The trial of the year, Mehserle, all seemed to hinge on Mehserle's intent. Did he intend to pull his gun and shoot the victim in the back? Or did he intend to pull his taser and taser this guy lying on the ground.

I don't know if you followed the case, but there was no doubt Mehserle shot the guy.

I'm trying to imagine some other defendant shooting a guy lying on the ground with his hands behind his back. Somehow, I find it hard to believe the whole trial would hinge on the shooter's intent. I think that jury would find murder of some degree and they'd put the shooter away.

"Too bad the East Anglia emails have proven that global warming stopped completely about 10 years ago - and there is no crisis anymore."

Hmm interesting, right not the east coast has the weather that we here in Texas normally have, 100 degree heat, while we are in the 80's, and San Diego cant get out of the mid 60's right now. Yeah that Global Warming is such a farce.

And yet the liberals still say it is a VALID REASON TO CREATE MASSIVE NEW TAXES.

Funny, last i checked our taxes are at the lowest since Truman. And you dont have the GOP to thank.

I'm sure they are dealing with it. As opposed to 37th idealistic idea of how business works, businesses don't have time to tilt at windmills. If you have to make changes to comply with the new laws, you get with the program and get the expert advice you need and start making the changes.

Someone who acted like 37th, pounded on the table and shouted that it's all WRONG, well, that person gets in the way and gets fired.

The Bush campaign supports a comprehensive energy reform bill which includes initiatives for energy conserving technologies as well as decreasing the foreign dependence on oil through increased domestic production and the use of non-fossil fuel based energy production methods.

Remember 4 dollar a gallon gas. And where is that switchgrass he promised in the State of the Union?

So when you compare the two, I will take Obama any day of the week. At least he is giving it an effort. Bush never did, and he said it best when asked what mistakes he has made "I cant think of any"

Just before the end of qualifying for the U.S. Senate race late this afternoon in Louisiana, a well-known former state Supreme Court justice jumped in to the Republican primary against incumbent David Vitter.

It's been a long time since I covered Louisiana politics, but if memory serves Chet Traylor was first elected to the court in the 1990s with major, major backing from the state's biggest business group in an effort to steer the court to the right. It was a hugely expensive race by the standards of the day. We'll be reporting more on this development, but what it suggests to me is that the business community is abandoning Vitter. And unless things have changed a lot in the dozen years since I moved away, Traylor is going to have access to boatloads of campaign cash for this primary.

The other problem this potentially poses for Vitter is geographic and cultural. Traylor is a good ol' boy from rural northeast Louisiana. Vitter is a Harvard-educated former Rhodes Scholar from the New Orleans area. That didn't pose a problem for Vitter when he first won election in 2004, in what was then an open nonpartisan primary. But the law was since changed and it's a closed Republican primary now, so he'll be facing Traylor straight up. Throw in Vitter's dalliances with prostitutes, and Traylor is in a strong position to exploit the old rural-urban (or New Orleans v. not New Orleans) fault lines."

nope I am primarily a Criminal Defense Lawyer but my wife is a corp HR Director and I am starting to take on some wage dispute litigation and attending Labor Law seminars where HC reform is the primary topic. The top labor lawyers here in Texas were covering the intracies of grandfathering current HC plans and moderate restrictions to flexible spending accounts. Those in the industry certainly don't appear as reflexively opposed as the
conservatives here. Corp HR depts are certainly dealing reasonably with the upcoming changes.
in HC laws.

I just did a little lookup on Ron Johnson. It appears his stance has something to do with the Catholic Church and the abuse issue they are dealing with. Mr. Johnson is a Lutheran but is on the Catholic Church finance committee at the diocese level. It all sounds a bit convoluted.

If I were Mr. Johnson, I'd back off WHATEVER stance I previously took. In politics, issues that are too nuanced don't get you anything but trouble.

"
Ron Johnson, a wealthy business executive and leading Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Wisconsin this year, is beginning to receive scrutiny for his far right views. He has been criticized recently for opposing an anti-sex offenders bill, the Child Victim Act, and for saying that he is “glad there’s global warming.”

Here goes 37th into ALLCAPS mode which he does when he gets really agitated. Now he'll start robo posting over and over again to fulfill his obsession. And drifting back into paranoid schizoid land with the cabal and 2008 and the leftists out to get him.

It is sure too bad that Rand Paul won't talk to anyone anymore. He's just like his dad:

"Despite the absurdity of Broun’s comments, Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) managed to concoct a far crazier conspiracy theory with radio host Alex Jones during an interview on July 1st.

Jones floated the idea that BP had planned the spill by giving “orders they knew would cause a problem,” BP “funded the carbon tax,” that BP actually wants the U.S. government to nationalize their assets, and the entire clean energy bill is a secret plot to establish a global government.

He also noted that the Obama administration wants the spill to worsen to provoke “forced evacuations.” Paul did not dispute any of Jones’ ideas. Rather, he confirmed that he also is “very suspicious of BP and our government and even the Obama administration.”

The Texas congressman then said Jones “forgot” that Obama used “executive orders” to dictate policy, giving the example of the escrow account, and that because of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan drained necessary National Guard troops that could have been used in the Gulf.

Of course, literally nothing either Jones or Paul said was true or is substantiated by evidence. Obama negotiated the $20 billion escrow account; he did not create it by executive order, as Paul contends. Also, Obama has deployed thousands of National Guard reserves — however, they are not being used because Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA) and others have not formulated plans to put them to work. "

They forgot about the detention camps obama will put 'conservatives' in after the 'forced evacuations' and the global government.

'My guess the teabagger "movement" will produce some gains for the GOP in the off year elections because of low turn out among regular folks, and high turn out among the haters, but will do lasting damage to the GOP in the long run. Thanks to the baggers, it will eventually be a permanent minority party, a regional party, strong only in the former Confederate states, IMO.'

yup.

Fix Featured Republican of the Day: Karen Handel

What is not to like?

"deputy chief of staff to former Vice President Dan Quayle's wife, Marilyn" (heavy hitting deputy Chief of staff to the wife of a stellar Republican VP) + ox wearing lipstick (there is something the nation needs) + outsider(forget the White House reference earlier) = year of the Republican woman or month of the hockey mom or season of the mama Grizzly or watch out for the pit bull or I'm in the tea party folks. "

Wish they'd give this space to you, Bob, or some other deserving person instead of thse R shills.

actually what I said is if you ever bother
to attend a H.C. seminar presented by experts in the field, not folks like you that rant 24/7 about things you know zip about, they are dealing rationally with the reform, and even those you would expect to most oppose the reform,are cautiously coming to the conclusion that the HC plan will work and will have positive elements that only partisans like you can't understand.

as to job formation we are actually creating them in certain sectors like in H.C., hospitals, nurses are being hired in record numbers.

and if you want to to go down that argument about job creation, when Obama was sworn in
we were losing 500-700,000 jobs per month. I
know this is difficult for you to comprehend
but even an anemic growth of 50,000-150,000 p/month is better than the 500-700,000 per month loss we were left with in Feb 2009.

What has he created? What has he invented? What business has he managed? What laws has he written, or enforced, or litigated?

NOTHING that we know of.

What we do know: he is NOT creating, managing, inventing, or litigating a damn thing for how many years? How many years has he been compulsively posting on this blog?

Most of the rest of us have gradually let others know what our history is. I worked in venture capital in high tech and started and managed companies. And what the hell is 37th? I sure as hell never heard of ONE thing he's done in his life but sit here and call all of us morons.

Why do we let this moron 37th, who has exactly ZERO credibility dominate this blog?

It's amazing how he opines on every conceivable subject, including rocket surgery, and disperses insults to actual aerospace surgeons.

We know the only way he can know anything is what he googles, because he sure as hell never leaves his keyboard. He has no real world experience that we know, no wisdom that comes from dealing with real problems, no sense of balance that comes from dealing with real people.

37th is an unemployed guy who posts on this blog 24/7. We don't know if he has ever held a job. We don't know if he has an education. We only know he is an expert on every subject without ever leaving his keyboard.

leichman1 wrote,
"HC reform will begin transitioning in 2014 and the rules promulgated by Sebelius starting in 2011. Its amazing that corporate HR folks are dealing with this change much more sanguine then the righties here who wish to trash the reform."

_____________________________________

Um except they are NOT hiring anyone - and private sector employment is down.

You are a complete moron.

.
________________________________________

Leichtman

Somehow you are trying to say that the HR people are more supportive of Obama's health care plan

They are NOT.

HIRING is what is important. Those HR departments ARE NOT HIRING.

Jobs support Health Care - that is something you and Obama do not understand.

You don't have to convince me of what you are. I hear from folks like you everyday. Ideas like "the police need to go into Oakland, and really kick a$$, and stop those videos too while they're at it". "If the black community think it's bad now, wait until I get done with them".

Others have better ideas and more peaceful ideas. Ideas that don't stereotype the black community into violent criminals. I know those ideas don't appeal to you because you like to blow the hell out of everything that frustrates you and stereotyping is SO much easier.

So, why should I listen to anything you say? Answer: I shouldn't and I don't.

My guess the teabagger "movement" will produce some gains for the GOP in the off year elections because of low turn out among regular folks, and high turn out among the haters, but will do lasting damage to the GOP in the long run. Thanks to the baggers, it will eventually be a permanent minority party, a regional party, strong only in the former Confederate states, IMO.

My comment was to brigade about H.C reform and
how corporations are actually dealing with it.
There are provisions grandfathering benefit plans and flexible savings accounts are now limited to $2500 plus restrictions about plans now not covering over the counter meds, brigade likely understands, as revenue enhancers. These are some of the reasonable realities talked about at HR seminars unlike the juvenile rants and insults by 37th.
Its amazing that those kinds of comments are still tolerated here under the excuse that they
somehow promote civil discourse. On what planet might that be?

Don't pay any attention to 37th. He doesn't live anywhere around Oakland or California, otherwise he'd know the local story. The black community at large is highly unhappy about the verdict, but they are not the source of the looting.

Actually this story is a lot bigger than looting. It has a lot more to do with justice and how it applied differently to blacks and whites. And applied differently to the police versus non-police.

37th is just looking for any story he can weave into BLACKS ARE VIOLENT story.

37's persistent racism makes conservative's Gerson's WaPo piece worth reposting.
"But mainstream conservatives have been strangely disoriented by Tea Party excess, unable to distinguish the injudicious from the outrageous. Some rose to Angle's defense or attacked her critics. Just to be clear: A Republican Senate candidate has identified the United States Congress with tyranny and contemplated the recourse to political violence. This is disqualifying for public office. It lacks, of course, the seriousness of genuine sedition. It is the conservative equivalent of the Che Guevara T-shirt -- a fashion, a gesture, a toying with ideas the wearer only dimly comprehends. The rhetoric of "Second Amendment remedies" is a light-weight Lexington, a cut-rate Concord. It is so far from the moral weightiness of the Founders that it mocks their memory.
ad_icon

The Republican wave also carries along a group of libertarians, such as Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul. Since expressing a preference for property rights above civil rights protections -- revisiting the segregated lunch counter -- Paul has minimized his contact with the media. The source of this caution is instructive. The fear is not that Paul will make gaffes or mistakes but, rather, that he will further reveal his own political views. In America, the ideology of libertarianism is itself a scandal. It involves not only a retreat from Obamaism but a retreat from the most basic social commitments to the weak, the elderly and the disadvantaged, along with a withdrawal from American global commitments.

Libertarianism has a rigorous ideological coldness at its core. Voters are alienated when that core is exposed. And Paul is now neck and neck with his Democratic opponent in a race a Republican should easily win.

In addition, the Republican wave carries along a group more interested in stigmatizing immigrants than winning their support. Some conservatives have found Arizona's anti-immigration law -- a law that is poorly written, ineffective, symbolically toxic and likely to be overturned -- a cause worth fighting for.

The response of many responsible Republicans to these ideological trends is to stay quiet, make no sudden moves and hope they go away. But these are not merely excesses; they are arguments. Significant portions of the Republican coalition believe that it is a desirable strategy to talk of armed revolution, embrace libertarian purity and alienate Hispanic voters. With a major Republican victory in November, those who hold these views may well be elevated in profile and influence. And this could create durable, destructive perceptions of the Republican Party that would take decades to change. A party that is intimidated and silent in the face of its extremes is eventually defined by them. "

@ the not-banned 37/Flowers: That the Fix allows you to use a blog of Washington Post, which serves a city 70% black, to post your racist sewage 24/7 speaks volumes about where he appears to be coming from.

What I am saying about the Meserhle verdict is that there is a division between blacks and whites view of the fairness of the verdict, just like the OJ Simpson case.

As unhappy as blacks in the Bay Area are, there is not rioting by blacks.

The verdict seemed to completely hinge on whether Meserhle meant to shoot the victim. There IS video that shows Meserhle being shocked at the gunshot.

What I say is that it seems like tasering the victim who was lying on the platform on his stomach, with his hands behind his back, surrounded by 4 officers, seemed extreme. Once Meserhle made the decision to taser him (his defense is that was his intent), the mistake of instead pulling his gun and shooting the guy in the back was the eventual outcome of too much excitement.

What I have trouble imagining is a trial of some other shooter (either black or white) where the jury cares so much about whether the shooter "intended" to shoot him, or just accidentally shot him. I think the jury would find for murder and that would be it. Some of these open carry folks could easily find themselves in the same spot.

Unlike your inner tube, my boat has room for the whole family and all the comforts of home. Including power, cable and Internet stooge.

It is raining so the pool is closed and now my boy is watching soccer. The countess and princess have gone shopping, naturally.

Drivl will compare this perfectly normal behavior, compare it to her own imbalances And pitiful existence, and find it all so utterly impossible. Just like Ped. Imagine having a family. And not blogging for a few hours. Unimaginable they roar.

And unlike peds hovel, I have built in ac.

You losers still dripping with envy from your empty, shallow lonely lives of hate. When the sun comes out, well be off.

Unlike drivl who will be camping nonstop on this blog until they pry her cold dead hands from the keyboard.

I guess I'm out of of touch. Bloggers canned for private emails about Drudge. A cable newswoman gets canned for a private Twittered eulogy. Dave Shuster hasn't been seen on MSNBC for months as a result of some unclear "infraction."

Yet there's Morning Joe on TV every week despite the information Kos published about MJ's past that was never reported by the national MSM. Where's Nancy Grace on that?

leichman1 wrote,
"HC reform will begin transitioning in 2014 and the rules promulgated by Sebelius starting in 2011. Its amazing that corporate HR folks are dealing with this change much more sanguine then the righties here who wish to trash the reform."

_____________________________________

Um except they are NOT hiring anyone - and private sector employment is down.

When the venue got changed to LA, and there were no cameras in the courtroom, and no blacks on the jury, people in Oakland were naturally suspicious.

Then, the jury deliberated about six hours in total because one day someone got sick, then someone had to go on vacation, and another had a doctors appointment. Sound a little ridiculous?

Then, after a total of about six hours, the jury said involuntary manslaughter, but then added a handgun enhancement to it, which apparently makes no sense legally. There is some thought the judge might throw out the handgun enhancement. If so, Meserhle could very well get almost no sentence, or even probation.

Sounds like the jury just wanted to get the whole thing over and done with and just made a deal inside the jury room. I don't think CA juries know the sentencing implications of any charge, so it's a bit like potpourri mixing.

Since I was just catching up on the story, I wasn't following you on that. Now I get it.

Before I saw the video I didn't fully get what the hub-bub was about. Didn't know it was an all white jury. If you can't convict when you have a clear video of the shooting, the system has broken down and we clearly aren't yet post-racial. The officer's "defense" -- that he thought he was shooting his taser, not his gun -- is so absurd I'm surprised he wasn't laughed out of court. After he shot, he didn't recoil in horror, as he would have if he had mistakenly shot the "real" gun. Instead he calmly reholstered the weapon. And of course the two weapons have a completely different feel and weight, they say, and are kept in holsters on opposite sides of the officer's waist.

Regarding the aftermath of the Meserhle verdict, here's the local story. Oakland PD readied itself and the business community for the verdict and evacuated the downtown area in advance. Doesn't that speak volumes of what verdict they anticipated. There was considerable white opinion that Meserhle would be acquited.

Anyway, after the verdict was announced, a crowd gathered in two demonstrations, one sanctioned by the city with music etc, and the other spontaneous. The unsanctioned group did some damage as the night went on, but this was NOT "the blacks" as 37th would have you believe. There is a group, Anarchists of the Bay Area, who wear hoodies and scarves over their faces who broke windows. I was listening to a police who recognized the same guys from the last "demonstation" and predicted that when night fell, they'd start their tricks. These people are simply using this excuse to vandalize and loot. About 80 of these people were arrested, and sure enough, they don't live in Oakland and don't care about the victim.

What I am hearing on local stations is that, generally, black citizens feel that Meserhle got off really easy. Blacks feel like the police can kill them and get away with it.

Whites generally think Meserhle is just some kind of screwup who just got all excited and made a mistake, and a lot of them think he should be acquited. Some other whites think involuntary manslaughter is about right.

The sentencing will be the next flashpoint. If Meserle gets the maximum sentence, that will quell things somewhat. If, God forbid, he is released on probation (which I have heard is a possibility), there will be blood, as Jake used to warn.

its the Grandfathering Plans provisions that HR departments have to comply with Brigade that you likely refer to. Most plans will have difficulty complying but it was intended to try and keep the reform costs down, but yea HR folks do have work to comply with that provision but its managable say this major labor lawfirm.

And I agree that taxes are about as low as they can be. I think that most of the whining ."
its refreshing to hear a conservative make that point. For those whining about our high tax burden they need to visit Canada as I did with their 25% tax on new home purchases called GST tax but then low yearly property taxes. They laugh at us when we complain about our high taxes. No one is advocating for their tax system or GST taxe but its interesting even though their tax burden is much higher than our's they currently have a much more stable economy, housing and stock market. g** forbid we could learn a thing or two from then on economic and certainly housing polciy which also requires 20% down to buy a new home which might be neccessary but certainly honorous to most Americans. But I still think some mild inflation say 3-5% might help jump start the economy with an expectation of higher prices to jump start the economy. I am much more concerned brigade with deflation than inflation at least for right now. No one wants to emulate Japan's 10 years of their lost economy, certainly the GOP would agree that is not the best economic course of action.

The first drilling rig has been moved from the Gulf to foreign waters as a result of Chairman Zero's irrational moratorium and the insane zealotry of the environmental left who want no drilling or mining anywhere. (If you think I'm being hyperbolic, name one location the Sierra Club is okay with opening for new drilling or mining. Go ahead, name one. I'll wait.) How many thousands of jobs have gone with it, Chairman Zero?

Meanwhile, the Business Roundtable, a group of CEO's (i.e. people who actually create jobs) that does not normally criticize administration policies is criticizing administration policies.

"In our judgment, we have reached a point where the negative effects of these policies are too significant to ignore. By reaching into virtually every sector of economic life, government is injecting uncertainty into the marketplace and making it harder to raise capital and create new businesses."
No kidding. The Obamacrats aren't just killing the Golden Goose, they're jumping up and down on it screaming "Die, Goose, Die!" as Barney Frank contemplates the lovely boa he will make from the feathers.

Amity Shlaes, author of The Forgotten Man and scholar of the Great Depression, says Obama is desperately emulating FDR, re-enacting all of the statist, redistributionist policies that prolonged the Great Depression by seven years. And why not? The academic elites who presume to grade presidents say FDR was the greatest, and they are the people whose approval Dear Reader has always sought out, and why his policies are not based on proven business principles but on bull-sessions with Marxists in the faculty lounge.

leichman1 wrote,
"HC reform will begin transitioning in 2014 and the rules promulgated by Sebelius starting in 2011. Its amazing that corporate HR folks are dealing with this change much more sanguine then the righties here who wish to trash the reform."

---

One of the new reporting requirements of HCR has the business community AND the IRS up in arms. It was included so additional tax revenues could be fantasized and used to reduce the overall cost estimate. Didn't take long to determine that conforming to this part of the law will cost businesses additional BILLIONS for paperwork and manpower---maybe this is part of a job stimulus. But the IRS didn't get any more agents to sort through the additional paperwork. The law of unintended consequences. Murphy's Law has yet to kick in.

actually brigade there are other conservative Ds here who respect and agree with much that
mark has posted in the past and look forward to his common sense economic thoughts. We should all be working towards the same objective: economic recovery for all. Your post last night that it is midnight in America apparently does not share that sentiment. But yea I would work my tail off to help mark in Austin in a run for Congress and I have absolutely no idea if he considers himself a R or conservative D.

Broadwayjoe wrote,
"finally watched the video: it reminds you of the famous 60s video of the Vietnamese guy getting shot. Brutal and terrifying. The cop's defense: I thought I was shooting my taser gun, not my real gun."

---

This is what I was telling you the other night right after the verdict was announced. I don't think there was a single black on the jury.

leichtman1 wrote,
"They have been so obsessed with fighting off inflation that they have created a scenario putting us on the verge of a Japan like deflationary climate."

---

This is a key point. We all know that inflation is pretty much inevitable with this debt. Many fear that once it starts, it will be hard to contain. Some even believer this will develop into a strategy to reduce our debt with cheap dollars. But what do we do right now to get this economy moving? The BIG question. And I agree that taxes are about as low as they can be. I think that most of the whining about tax increases can be attributed to worries about the immediate future and what we're going to do to reduce this deficit. Property taxes are being hiked in many parts of the country, even during this recession, because of budget shortfalls. In some places, this is even mandated by law already---fund the schools, et al. And while they adjusted property values upward during the boom, I haven't noticed many tax assessors out and about since the crash trying to make corrections.

HC reform will begin transitioning in 2014 and the rules promulgated by Sebelius starting in 2011. Its amazing that corporate HR folks are dealing with this change much more sanguine then the righties here who wish to trash the reform. Public opinion of the reform bill has also improved by 10% in polling since February as voters begin to learn more about it other than the garbage about so called death panels still being pushed by 37th and the GOP but actually now being denounced by sensible Republicans who understand the lunacy of that faux argument.

We have a blue crowned conure who is clearly smarter than liberals. When we open his cage he comes out. When liberals are given the chance to escape enslavement and captivity, they vote for continued plantation.

Between drivl, Ped, Ddunce and Baghdad bj, I think they could reason the bird to a draw.

And I have not invoked climate change here. I just want to save the economy and the national security of my country, and of its friends. If we get serious, others will follow [or perish]. If we do not get serious, my granddaughters, and everybody's grandkids will have dust.

Posted by: mark_in_austin | July 10, 2010 8:09 AM
---

Thanks for a thoughtful response, Mark. You should consider a run for office; but I wouldn't count on much support from your friends here---not after you've displayed good, common sense.

I don't get it with all brigade's weird sex allusions, he really seems like one majorly sick guy. Never seen a "straight" guy so obsessed with fellatio.

Not many gay ones either.

Posted by: Noacoler | July 10, 2010 2:06 AM |
---

Pot. Kettle. We once had some birds. A conure named Abner had a personality like yours. He once took a piece out of my wife's finger as she attempted to feed him. I didn't think he was too bright, but I guess everything is relative in some way. Compared to you and DDAWD, your parrots are probably of high intellect. Same could be said of a field mouse.

I can only imagine which member you've lost while trying to abuse those poor birds in who-knows-what kind of way.

37th my family works for fortune 500 companies and as usual you don t know what you are talking about.
Conservatives rail against the bailout of banks and the corporate world says thanks for bailing us out, without the bailout corporations would truly be in the soup today.
Conservatives can t have it both ways and say Obama is antibusiness but did the think corporations wanted to save their viability: bank bailouts and bailing out GM and Chrysler.
Without the bailouts the world economy would be 1929 redeux. Corporations and CNBC know that its just the whackos like Rand Paul who would have preferred economic demise. Went to an HR seminar on HC reform lawfirm last week put on by a very probusiness lawfirm and they were surprisingly upbeat about the efficacy of HC reform and the transitioning process in 2011 for their corporate clients.

We don't watch the evening news much anymore so we are just catching up to this story about the police shooting of an unarmed man at a BART station.

I finally watched the video: it reminds you of the famous 60s video of the Vietnamese guy getting shot. Brutal and terrifying. The cop's defense: I thought I was shooting my taser gun, not my real gun.

CNBC was repeating yesterday, your comment mark that large corporations are hording cash b/c of a lack of demand, also b/c treasury bills are at 3% and there is no demand for
lbo s. Seems like the feds need to artificially create some inflation. They have been so obsessed with fighting off inflation that they have created a scenario putting us on the verge of a Japan like deflationary climate. With all of the retail prices dropping, home prices declining and mtg rates down to a 50 year low there is absolutely no reason for anyone to go out and buy a new home, apparel, or refinance their loans b/c of the exepectation that if they just wait to buy that item another 30 days they can buy it cheaper. The economy will pick up when
psychologically consumers begin to think that if they wait another 30 days to buy that house they were eyeing that it will be more expensive, not cheaper, imho. Need not have insane bidding wars like Ca had in 2005, just a reasonable expectation that consumers need to step up to the plate now before prices increase. Deflation is the biggest concern for our economy.

The government really has a limited role in the transition to new energy -

As oil runs out, its price will increase - as the price increases, alternative energy which is more expensive, will kick in.

The whole thing SHOULD BE PRICE DRIVEN.

If the government wants to get involved with research - and preparation - that is fine.

However, to INTERVENE in the market, by making oil prematurely expensive - does not make economic sense.

The price of oil will rise - and at some point it WILL be MORE expensive than alternative energy - that is when it makes SENSE to transition over.

It should be free market driven.

The other thing - technology is always leaping by bounds in the future - we are probably better off taking the few extra decades to develop alternative fuels - because we don't have the technology in place yet.

Most of the government programs in this area have been expensive and not successful - the ethanol situation in one case in point - it makes no sense economically, or even from an energy point of view.

One point - the United States does have a substantial amount of oil shales reserves which when the price of oil rises to a certain point - will kick in -

We have an interim safety net.

Mark - take another look at the energy situation.

Everytime a car is built, we are locking ourselves into what the care will burn in the engine for, let's say, 100,000 miles.

Let's go one step further - everytime a house is built, we are locking ourselves into a certain amount of heating for that house, a certain amount of electricity - and a certain about of gas to drive to and from that house to jobs, stores etc.

The single largest energy use is the suburbs - build a house and you have locked in energy use - even to drive from the jobs center to that house.

Move people to the cities - and instantly you have less heating, because they are in apartments - and less driving - because people walk to a store and take trains - even if they have a car in the city, they use it less.

The single one thing that can be done is to get more people to live in urban environments.

Probably no longer timely in "Fix" time, it should still be referenced WRT Goodhair in the future.

Brigade, fed support of small biz lending could stand to be more robust. At least, here in TX, small biz lending is weak enough to be a brake on growth and recovery.

It is also not credible to argue for more tax relief when fed income taxes are at an historic low; however, I am not implying that you were personally arguing for more tax relief.

American publicly traded corporations are currently "hoarding" cash because, I think, they believe that demand is not there for more product and service. Small biz, on the other hand, our greatest job creator, is cash strapped, and community banks need
encouragement to lend.

The core of what the Admin wants from Congress: extended unemployment benefits and aid to state governments, is neatly countercyclical and not subject to whole new levels of bureaucracy. I do not believe for one minute that those looking for work will stop looking [in any substantial number] because they can still buy necessities on UC. I do fear that states will continue to be irresponsible if they are encouraged to rely more on fed assistance, but the cold fact is that they cannot print money and a worldwide recession is beyond a state lege to manipulate in any way. So the risk of the moral hazard is outweighed by the benefits of keeping teachers employed and schools open, and giving states some breathing room, IMHO.

Let me tie in something less prosaic than state budget shortfalls. Even the American Petroleum Institute argues that oil is ever more scarce and expensive to locate. Rather than wait until the last precious drop of crude and the world war to control it, we could justify as cheap a massive, generation long, program of conservation initiatives and alternate energy seed money - including money for nukes, natural gas, wind, hydro, solar, etc., as well as seed money for high speed North American rail.
Airplanes will become impossible to efficiently fuel, perhaps in my lifetime [I am 66, but in good health]. Aviation will be a military prerogative. I suspect transoceanic shipping will have to rely on nukes.

Try to imagine a world on the brink of no readily available petroleum. Put a time frame on that prospect. I say 60 years. Some say 100 years. Some say 20 years.
Divide your time frame by two and start your projects. With foresight, you reach the point where the economy can continue as productive and without desperate wars for fuel.

And I have not invoked climate change here. I just want to save the economy and the national security of my country, and of its friends. If we get serious, others will follow [or perish]. If we do not get serious, my granddaughters, and everybody's grandkids will have dust.

Noacoler wrote,
"I think Krugman said it .. the deficit hawks got to move their little hobbyhorse back to the foreground and stop the stimulis and now we're losing ground again."

---

Krugman is a dolt. Everything is somebody else's fault. Let the government dole out taxpayer money to stimulate the economy and the only things than get stimulated are favored interests and pet causes. When you see that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are never subject to any rules or oversight, you know Washington isn't serious. Small businesses create jobs, but they need access to capital. The government bailed out the banks, but the banks aren't lending. If the government decides who gets the money, you can bet an ability to repay and a sound business model will be low on the list of priorities. How do you think we got in this mess? Krugman is a bookworm who's full of himself because other bookworms give him awards and praise him. He couldn't manage a Kool-Aid stand. These are the kind of people Obama loves. Who's this utter oaf he's letting run NASA?

I think some New York investors are teaming up to buy Vietnam, raze it, and start over from scratch. Insider info. Sell while you still can.

I see that RCP has a new comments section. I just skipped through the thread with the most comments. Looks like a few of the regulars are still there (joe m. and No One Important) still predicting the end of the world being just around the corner. Most of the regulars are gone.

Lots of complaints about posts disappearing which is blamed on the liberals. I got news for them--there are no liberals on RCP, so I doubt that's the reason.

@12B: I think Krugman said it .. the deficit hawks got to move their little hobbyhorse back to the foreground and stop the stimulis and now we're losing ground again. I don't care how in debt we go .. we both knew people who lived through the depressions and it damaged people more than living through a war.

I worry that the economy is slumping again after the pickup earlier in the year. I'm reading the Fed is investigating their ways of breathing some life into the economy but they are just about out of tools.

No wonder it's so frustrating trying to discuss anything with 37th, and I know I used to try. He's so convinced that his opinion is "revealed truth". Honestly, I question that 37th actually knows the difference between opinion and fact.

You have it backwards, 12B. We say "cosign" as a euphemism for "sine" as a euphemism for "sign" as a euphemism for (pauses to take another hit of crystal and forgets) .. and it's all a deception to cover for the fact that we're all coordinated by backchannel emails to discredit 37th, who's here fro Krypton to save the world.

Oh, yeah, I remember another of your suspicions. That someone was purposely manipulating Intrade just to influence public opinion or something. It couldn't just represent the bettors on HCR passing. NO, it had to be some kind of conspiracy.

Then, HCR passed. Then we heard nothing more about the conspiracy. Because it never was a conspiracy which common sense could have told you to begin with. Why would Congress be influenced by Intrade?

What was it you were so convinced of before HCR passed. Some nutty suspicion you were SO convinced, that Nancy Pelosi was just trying to tell Obama something or other, or Obama was trying to tell Pelosi something. You ARE clinically paranoid, so you are always going to have some suspicion that no one else has.

Then you'll spend a bunch of time trying to convince us. Then nothing will come of it, then you'll eventually forget all about it. Until the next suspicion hits you.

"Maybe Obama thinks he will have to resign on account of the Blago trial"

your redundancy is getting to be really lame.

why don't we just summarize "37th's" brilliant
contributions to this site over the last few months and move on:
1. I hate Obama;
2. I hate all Ds;
3. Obama is dirt and should resign;
4. Obama caused every malady on earth;
5. All Ds are dirt and should resign; and
6. Every blogger that comes to this site
and disagrees with my lunancy should be
banned FOR LIFE.

that pretty much summarizes the garbage that
37th has posted here ad nausea and passes off as serious political thought

@@DDAWD: there was a great article in TNR about 20 years ago before Fred Barnes took over and completely wrecked it. Back them Krauthammer was merely a conservative writer there and not totally braindead nuts and Sydney Blumenthal never disappointed.

Anyway it was about a conservative fete of Jesse Helms and the speakers trying to do humor. They couldn't. Something about fog and Foggy Bottom, just awful.

I posted the link to the Austin Statesman, its a really sleazy GOP story that Perry wants to deny any involvment with even though the $200,000 came directly from associates of his and admitted to in recent depositions. The story deserves a thread and is as impt as the GOP New Hampshire phone jamming story from 2006. Its fascinating that The Fix wasted our time on a thread about Perry as a potential GOP POTUS candidate but can't seem to google The Austin Statesman and find that story about his shannanagans.

leichtman1 wrote,
"EVERY SINGLE THREAD by the Fix is about positive R candidates activities.
The Texas GOP is under investigation for an illegal $200,000 contribution by a former Perry chief of staff to a third party candidate gets ZERO coverage by the FIX b/c the story puts a GOP candidate in a bad light light. We certainly wouldn't want to discuss that political story, would we The Fix?"
---

In all fairness, we can pretty much discuss anything we want. I don't think anyone's ever been banned for drifting off topic. Some of the threads generate a lot of heat, and some of them very quickly run out of steam. The only thing I've heard about the contribution by the Perry supporter is from you. Feel free to fill us in on the details.

Noacoler wrote,
"I think racism should be a capital crime and all white people should be charged with it.

I hold a block party every time someone is gunned down in Chicago."
----

Uh, I think most of the victims of the Chicago gang violence are black. Since you celebrate, you should probably charge yourself with a capital crime. The punishment will be having Drindl flog your log.

"The liberals hate women who are conservatives"
interesting: my wife's closest 2 female friends are ultra conservatives she doesn't agree with about anything. Where the heck do you dream up this c***? My guess is you just start typing I hate Ds now let me start making up something to finish that thought reghardless how inane.

This blog needs a new "gracious host," someone a lot more committed to reporting, a lot less committed to favoring the Republican Party, and a lot more talented at analysis, and a lot LOT more talented at writing.

"It remains to be seen." (spits)

Posted by: Noacoler | July 9, 2010 7:07 PM"
___________

Hate to say it but they need to shut it down for awhile.

The Dems in trouble false narratives, fake controversies (BHO in trouble with Wal-Mart Moms), promotions of GOP wannabe candidates I've never heard of (like today), shoutouts to Fix cronies some of whom are wildly discredited public figures, cherry picked anti-BHO polls (sometimes posted INSTEAD OF positive Post-sponsored polls, and the stubborn refusal (with two exceptions over the last TWO YEARS) to say anything positive about our 44th President are just a few -- LOL -- of the reasons to give this blog a long time out.

At its worst, the blog seems to just cut and paste RNC and stormfront press releases and talking points.

The baggers ARE morons. Anyone seen a picture of them that didn't look like a bunch of vagrants and mental oatients? Look at the lead a few days ago, the guy with the mutton chops and tricorn. Tell me with a straight face that guy WASN'T recruited from a tent in the weeds. They routed him out, gave him a new jacket to wear, a funny hat with a teabag on it, and promised him a jug of T-bird if he'd mill around in the crowd.

Look at his face. The guy doesn't even know what year it is.

Funny that the meth addict gets all bent up over the teabaggers. Sexual slurs? Nowhere in sight. Lay off the tina, 37th, better yet see how much you can do in under a minute. Can you get an 8-ball into your pipe all at once? Try it!

I just watched the commercials and its about as lame as this entire thread. Some unknown R calls herself an ExtraOrdinary Conservative and that is breaking news to the Fix. Give me a break this is worthless faux journalism. Its a weak, nonmemorable commercial, and we should care why?

This blog needs a new "gracious host," someone a lot more committed to reporting, a lot less committed to favoring the Republican Party, and a lot more talented at analysis, and a lot LOT more talented at writing.

actually I summarized your worthless spamming of this site precisely and that gets under your skin b/c you can now understand how worthless those comments are that you spend your entire life posting and reposting. We get it it. You hate Obama and you hate Ds, they should all resign, are responsible for every malady on this planet and all who disagree should be banned for Life AND BEYOND. So what; who cares?

precisely what did I post summarizing your sentiments over the last few months do you disagree with other than I should be banned for life AND BEYOND.
and this is what you pass off as intelligent political thought.

What I would like to ask Felicia is why
EVERY SINGLE THREAD by the Fix is about positive R candidates activities.
The Texas GOP is under investigation for an illegal $200,000 contribution by a former Perry chief of staff to a third party candidate gets ZERO coverage by the FIX b/c the story puts a GOP candidate in a bad light light. We certainly wouldn't want to discuss that political story, would we The Fix?

precisely what did I post summarizing your sentiments over the last few months do you disagree with other than I should be banned for life AND BEYOND.
and this is what you pass off as intelligent political thought.

What I would like to ask Felicia is why
EVERY SINGLE THREAD by the Fix is about positive R candidates activities.
The Texas GOP is under investigation for an illegal $200,000 contribution by a former Perry chief of staff to a third party candidate gets ZERO coverage by the FIX b/c the story puts a GOP candidate in a bad light light. We certainly wouldn't want to discuss that political story, would we The Fix?

This is what passes as news and analysis in the Post these days? A post about (and embedding totally gratis) a political ad from some female GOP candidate I've never heard of, who's running second or third pre-primary.

why don't we just summarize "37th's" brilliant
contributions to this site over the last few months and move on:
1. I hate Obama;
2. I hate all Ds;
3. Obama is dirt and should resign;
4. Obama caused every malady on earth;
5. All Ds are dirt and should resign; and
6. Every blogger that comes to this site
and disagrees with my lunancy should be
banned FOR LIFE.

that pretty much summarizes the garbage that
37th has posted here ad nausea and passes off as serious political thought.

again 37th and ZOUK if you are so very proud
of the garbage you shovel here every two minutes, why do you constantly change your moniker, or do you think we just haven't noticed?

Folks,
As predicted, "37th and 0" has re-appeared under a series of other names (several of which I have banned) since we initially banned him/her on Sunday.

This is nothing new: "ChrisFox" aka "noacoler" has done the same thing repeatedly as well.

Comments section don't have to be ruled by a few people shouting at each other on opposite sides of the political spectrum. I am hoping we can prove that in the coming months.
Thanks for your patience.
Chris
Posted by: Chris_Cillizza | June 29, 2010 6:04 PM

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Noa,
I really think you are on shaky ground.
Having read a fair number of your posts over the months, you have engaged in the same sort of personal attacks that you cast on others.
Banning 37th made sense. As did banning you. Both were consistent with the rules of fair play on the blog. You both chose to ignore them.

1. Ceflynline and Fairlinton: Thanks for your thoughtfulness and patience. I believe that the comments section will get better sooner rather than later so hopefully it will be rewarded.

2. 37th/Heatwave has been banned AGAIN. Not sure what else I can do other than keep banning him. And he will continue to return under other names.

3. ChrisFox/Noa: The comparison between you and 37th is based on your desire to return repeatedly under other names despite being banned. I continue to be baffled as to why you spend so much time getting back to a blog you disdain so much but that's another conversation.

4. To everyone else: Commenting on blogs remains very much a work in progress. The Post's goal is to allow as free a discussion as possible without permitting personal attacks and other online savagery. It seems a pretty easy goal to meet. Treat people online like you would offline.

3. ChrisFox/Noa: The comparison between you and 37th is based on your desire to return repeatedly under other names despite being banned. I continue to be baffled as to why you spend so much time getting back to a blog you disdain so much but that's another conversation.

"deputy chief of staff to former Vice President Dan Quayle's wife, Marilyn" (heavy hitting deputy Chief of staff to the wife of a stellar Republican VP) + ox wearing lipstick (there is something the nation needs) + outsider(forget the White House reference earlier) = year of the Republican woman or month of the hockey mom or season of the mama Grizzly or watch out for the pit bull or I'm in the tea party folks.

I am losing track of the many Republican scams to sell candidates simply with lame snappy labels and ever deeper bumper sticker philosophies.